PHARMAC decision on Herceptin 'unintelligent and reckless'.

May 3 2007

PHARMAC’s decision today to fund only 9 weeks of Herceptin from July 1 has been labelled by BCAC Chair Libby Burgess as ‘unintelligent’ and showing a ‘reckless disregard’ for the lives of New Zealand women who have the aggressive HER2+ form of breast cancer.

‘The decision to fund 9 weeks of Herceptin with chemotherapy clearly illustrates the need to separate the functions of drug purchase and determination of effectiveness and cost benefit, processes currently combined within the drug purchasing agency,' said Ms Burgess. ‘This leads to confused, compromised decisions such as the one announced today.’

‘PHARMAC’s funding package for 9 weeks of Herceptin treatment is based purely on cost, not evidence,’ stated Ms Burgess. ‘This radical decision is way out of step with the rest of the world.  PHARMAC has ignored the recommendations of our oncologists and is forcing them to use an unproven treatment regimen designed by a Finnish researcher to test other chemotherapy agents.  This is based on data from only 54 women in the entire world who have received this treatment whereas the international standard 12 month treatment is based on studies involving over 12,000 women and it has proven survival benefits.’

PHARMAC’s announcement today sets a bad precedent of unintelligent use of this and future high-cost targeted therapies where cost overrides evidence-based medical decisions. 

‘The life-saving benefits that could be gained from correct use of Herceptin and other similar medicines will be lost and taxpayers’ money may well be wasted on ineffective treatment regimens,’ said Ms Burgess. ‘New Zealand citizens will pay a high cost in terms of lives lost and poor health outcomes if such compromised decision-making processes are allowed to continue.’

The 9 week Herceptin regimen PHARMAC will fund is not approved in New Zealand by drug regulatory body Medsafe. Women wishing to access the funded treatment will be asked to sign a consent form to indicate their understanding that they will be receiving an unapproved treatment.

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